Week 6: July 18-24 - Good Times & Heatwaves

This week's sky shot.

Happy Monday! I'm linking up with Hoho Runs and MissSippiPiddlin for another weekly review. Read more about my fall goal race here. 

This sweaty tank sums up the week.

Week of July 18-24
Monday: 3 miles
Tuesday: off + walk to/from work (w2w)
Wednesday: 3 miles + w2w
Thursday: rest + w2w
Friday: 2.2 miles + w2w
Saturday: 9 miles
Sunday: rest

Total Miles: 17.2 miles
2016 Miles: 542 miles

Last week's hiking helped my legs and lungs. I felt strong on each run, despite the extreme heat. Another new thing: I've been running with groups 90% of this summer and I have to say, it was time for me to get in some solo miles. I also had an epically productive life and work week. Gotta love that. Speaking of which, we caught up on Game of Thrones! Does that count as productive?

Monday was a solid 3. I didn't feel like running, but once I got out there it felt really good. I didn't break any records and stuck to my neighborhood to avoid traffic, but I did get my weekly sky shot.

Actually from Sunday, but since we're talking about Tobias.... 

I intended to run Tuesday night, but had a meeting with the author who's books I illustrate, then ran home so my vet (and neighbor) could examine my dog Tobias. Oh yeah! He got stung in the face on Monday night and she had to give him an allergy shot after his cheek puffed up. (He didn't seem to notice. He just looked stupid.) Anyway, during his exam my neighbor's husband offered Alex and I some wine. A few hours (and bottles) later we were chatting on their back patio and eating burritos, while the sun went down and I knew I'd lost my chance to run. Oh well. We had a lovely time.

Wednesday is group speedwork, but I worked late and two of my running pals begged off, so I decided to wait until closer to dark and got in another solid 3 mile solo run.

Thursday was another off day (scheduled) and I woke up a tad late Friday to get in more than 2.2 miles before I had to drop my car off for an oil change and go to work.

Post 9 miler in my new training group tank top.

Saturday was my normal group run. We started 30 minutes earlier due to weather, and while it was tough to get up at 5:30, I'm so glad I went. I ran the prescribed group 6 and then 3 more with a new friend to get my scheduled 9. It was my first longer run since Medina (May 28) and I felt great! I forgot that I need to get past mile 4 or 5 to feel "in the zone."

Asian stir fry and pizza

We drove up to Cleveland Sunday for a brunch for Alex's uncles (4 hours total in the car). It was a lovely time, but man it ate up our entire day. When we returned we started watching Stranger Things on Netflix and wowee it's good so far. Kind of spooky, but I love the 80s setting. One cool thing about this weekend: I cooked two meals that involved eggs and potatoes in very different ways. (What a thrilling life - ha!!)

This entire week reminded me why I love running. I went out, kind of followed my schedule, and had fun -- even with the oppressive heat and humidity.

Our peach trees are finally fruiting! 

There's one item I need to address: I'm not really following Hanson's anymore. Over the past 6 weeks I've kept track of my completed workouts vs. Hanson's and there have been so many times I've moved a workout to accommodate group speedwork and long runs. I follow on/off days and enjoy the higher weekend milage, but the constant swapping of Tues/Wed, Mon/Thurs, and Sat/Sun to fit my training group was starting to drive me batty. Plus, my easy days weren't lining up after speedwork/strength. This week, I did a mash up of Hanson's and my training group plan (a generic half schedule supplied to me by coaches) and I really enjoyed it. I will continue using pieces of Hanson's (mainly weekend long run milage and pacing guidelines), but I'm going to stick with my training group plan on the other days. I'm using my group's "advanced half plan" and it covers speedwork and recovery milage, so it's not very different. I guess I can't toot my horn about using Hanson's anymore, but I don't care. I'd rather have fun on solo and group runs vs. stressing out over switched days and "how will this line up?!" - especially in this flippin' heat!

How are you handling the heat? 
Have you watched Game of Thrones or Stranger Things? 
How do you like your eggs?